


In Runes

by thedragonsarecats



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: AU in which Freed is killed during his battle with Mirajane, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I wrote this in under ten minutes, M/M, and Laxus... kinda goes crazy, it’s a depressing ass fic with a pun for a title and if that ain’t me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 02:23:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14154618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedragonsarecats/pseuds/thedragonsarecats
Summary: He knows without checking that Freed was gone—but he still found himself pressing two fingers to Freed’s pulse point to check, because it’s Freed and hatred might’ve consumed his soul for years but his heart was all Freed’s.Laxus felt nothing.__Alternatively: After two years of dormancy, Mirajane loses herself in Satan Soul, and instead of sparing Freed, she kills him.





	In Runes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Greenninjagal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greenninjagal/gifts), [Jungle321jungle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jungle321jungle/gifts).



> based on the idea Greeninjagal had: What if Mirajane got lost in Satan Soul during the Battle of Fairytail and killed Freed, and the rest of the arc was just everyone trying to subdue her + prevent Laxus from killing her?
> 
> This one shot consists of the first part of that prompt, not all of it because it’s late and I’m tired and I basically wrote this in Skype. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Laxus leaned against the pillar in the cathedral, watching as Freed’s ruins flickered his battle with Mirajane. The ground shock with the sheer force of their fight before sharply cutting off. And then, suddenly, the runes crackled out of existence. The purple letters sparked once, bright white, before shattering into pieces and disappearing. Laxus straightened, that—that had never happened before.

“Freed?” He called out, expecting an answer but frowning when he received none. He could feel his heart beat—that; that also had never happened before. Freed _always_ responded. “Fuck.”

Laxus stepped out of the church. He had seen the dark light when Mirajane first transformed by the bridge, and headed that way. Freed had been fighting her, and even if Mira was an S-Class wizard it had been years since she’d tapped into that power. Laxus had been confident in his ability to defeat her. 

He had been arrogant, he sees it now.  ~~Too late.~~

He refused to let himself run to Freed, refused to let himself teleport there in a flash of lightning, refused to let himself even speed walk. Laxus walked towards the bridge as slow as he always did, and refused to acknowledge the fear roaring in his chest. 

When Laxus arrived at the scene, half of Fairytail was there. They blocked his view for a moment, but Laxus didn’t even struggle to push himself through the crowd, despite the angry glares and shouts thrown his way. Laxus couldn’t care less; he needed to find Freed.

A crater had been pummeled into the ground, and Mirajane the She-Devil stood above it in all her glory, glowing red eyes and cracked porcelain skin with leather wings fanning out behind her. Laxus didn’t care about her—no, what he cared about was the charred remains of his _best friend_ lying at the bottom of the crater.

Without hesitation Laxus slid down the crater, and knelt by Freed’s side. He knows without checking that Freed was gone—his coat has been torn to shreds, his skin has blackened and cracked all over, his hair had been singed all off on one side, his green eyes, once so full of life, stared glassily up at the sky, and the only part of his upper body that was still intact were the gray scales that fanned away from Freed’s fading demon’s eye—But he still found himself pressing two fingers to Freed’s pulse point to check, because it’s _Freed_ and hatred might’ve consumed his soul for years but his heart was all Freed’s.

Laxus felt nothing.

He clutched Freed’s body to him, absently wondering where Evergreen and Bixslow were—because they should be _here_  with him—and lightly combed back the remains of Freed’s hair out of his face. He lightly closedFreed’s eyes, not because he wanted to think Freed was sleeping, but because he can’t stand staring at them when they’re so empty of life.

Before he’s even realizing it hot, choking sobs are tearing at his throat and chest—the kind he’s never had before—and tears are spilling warmly down his cheeks. It’s so unlike him, he knows, but Freed had—has—always brought out the parts of him he strived to keep away from public eye, and just the thought of him being _gone_ caused a sorrow to wrack his soul as strong as the anger that had burned there for years. The tears are almost enough to dampen the rage and be turn it into pure anguish, but then he glanced up, and remembered the reason why Freed is no longer by his side.

He saw her there, The She-Devil, as she stood above them both, glowing with power. Laxus hadn’t seen Mirajane like that in years, not since Lisanna, but when their eyes meet and he realized her eyes are red instead of blue, her hair is black instead of white, and her bodysuit is gray and silver instead of pink and gold, and then Laxus knows. He knows this isn’t Mirajane, not even the old one who died with her sister. Mirajane is gone; this is the She-Devil.

Laxus gently set Freed down, not bothering to wipe his tears, then removed his jacket from his shoulders to lay across and cover Freed’s body. He pulled his headphone from his ears, dropped them to the dirt, and stood.

“She-Devil,” He snarled, not even bothering to grace the shell of a women with her name. He held one hand out and clenched it into a fist. Lightning formed and crackled around it, then jumped across him until it covers Laxus’ whole body in an armor of electricity.

The demon tilted her head up, and smirked down at him, and even from in the crater Laxus can hear the condescending scoff in her throat. “Thunder god.”

The fire is back, blazing hot, but now it’s not only consumed his soul, but it had gone on to burn his heart until it was a lump of crumbling charcoal like the man who lay on the groun, because without Freed, Laxus has no need for it. The rage was free to take it and make it its own. 

The tears hadn’t  stopped streaming down his face, and Laxus didn’t even try to blink them back anymore; no amount of sorrow could dampen his rage at losing Freed, the one person who barely kept him sane in his rage, his anchor in the storm.

Black clouds began to form above, swirling until white lightning crackled and  was swiftly followed by thunder. The She-Devil glowed an ominous purple in the storm’s darkness, a stark contrast to Laxus’s bright yellow-white. Mirajane Struass might’ve still been in there, but Laxus didn’t care. He couldn’t care, his heart was  _gone._

He had lost his anchor. It was time to embrace the storm.


End file.
